I know we've got Beautiful Houses, but I wanted to create a discussion exclusive to old homes and their beauty.

As long as I can remember, I've favored older homes over new. Something about dusty corners, creaky stairs and hidden surprises is attractive to me.

I personally classify a house built before the 1960s as "old," by the way (I'd say abandoned homes would work, too, since they're usually old as well). My grandparent's house is almost 40 years old and I just love going there. I've found that older homes tend to have many features newer homes lack, which makes touring them that much more interesting and exciting.

Here's a house from 1899 to get us started. Anyone have more pictures? I'm going to have a field day taking my own pictures of the old homes in my town.

I went driving through Everett with my mother today, taking snapshots of all the old homes in the area. There's just so many, and they're all unique in their own way. I wish I could tour them all! Oh, and most of the homes, if not all, are from the early 1900s. In fact, the last house used to belong to my great-grandmother.

I grew up in a 120 year old home that was built to be a 4 room school, no indoor plumbing, a coal chamber in the basement and 4 large coat closets. In the 1920's it was purchased privately and plumbing was added and walls were built, kitchens were also added (4 baths, 4 kitchens). My parents bought it in 1975 and added even more walls, removed the upstairs kitchens and changed it into a private residence.

It's always been a very interesting home. There are a lot of repairs and upkeep, but worth it as far as I'm concerned. Then again I'm not doing the repairs or upkeep.

^ Thanks for posting that! I love homes with an extensive background story like yours. I also like the idea of living in a place designed to be a school; I think my former middle school would have made a positively lovely home. Yes, it's much larger than a typical house, but what's the harm?

This home was built in 1899 on the high bluff overlooking the Trinity River. It was part of a neighborhood known as Quality Hill which featured large Victorian homes, owned mainly by Fort Worth's Cattle Baron Families. Only a small number of these homes remain today.

Quote:

Pollock-Capps house, circa 1899

Texas Finn on flickr.com

I love reading the history behind old houses. According to Texas Finn, the first home was occupied by a woman named Carrie McFarland, who lived in the house until her death at age 99.

Ohhhh... I'll try to find a photo of my great grandparent's house... it's so sad cause they demolished it like a month ago... to build a tower for elderly people appartments... ridiculous!!! Anyway, I digress...

I'll check the local newspapers, there might be pictures... it was such a huge house... ahhh... I've never been inside it but it looked nice from the outside

All those photos posted are GORGEOUS! I love old houses, they have a soul

What I like about these lovely American houses are that they don't look anything like the equivalent 'vintage' from my own country. It's as if, free from British or European historical constraints, the builders were free to develop their vision and create something unique, instead of having to stick to the strictly delineated style of the age they were working in.

As much as I've enjoyed living in period properties, and being deeply in love with how they look, living in them is an endless round of patching things up. It's an ongoing education about the mechanics of construction. I honestly wouldn't advise anyone to follow the dream of owning one without coming to terms with how often you'll have to get your hands dirty.

Also, with older houses, there is always the dilemma of how far you modernise the inside, because those old things were not built with heating and plumbing as we know it today. It can often be hard to sympathetically update such things without stripping away the character. On the other hand, if your heating doesn't work, you'll end up in bed wearing a coat and drinking whiskey in order to keep warm, as I had to do one cold Christmas. And that was before the rain came through the roof.

I'm about to walk home from work, past a pub that was established in 1630, and last rebuilt in 1790.

Regarding my last post, this is what I'm talking about, my great grandparents' house.

Okay, so the house was built in 1917 and over the last 20 years maybe, there were like bars and businesses inside as it was not suited for habitation anymore, that and being located on the main street :p

Before (early 2007):

After (a month ago?)
(Cyberpresse + http://akakia.blogspot.com/ ) Sorry they aren't the best pictures but I'm even surprised that I *did* find pictures :p